Marvel: 2010-07-01 - You are not Alone
It is nine o'clock, the time that Simone said that 'The Professor' was going to contact you. Nothing much to do in the hotel room, as you likely sit on the bed and watch television. No knock on the door yet. Nerve wreaking to wait, isn't it? Though suddenly, you sense something isn't right. Like cold chills up your spine. Then...you are gone. Or rather the room is gone. You are standing in a hospital where a foreign language is being spoken. You see a man walking along the aisle of bedded victims. Many of them appear starved and most mentally unstable. The bald man with intense blue eyes sits on the edge of the bed and reaches out to touch the muttering man's head. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. "Relax. You are not alone. I shall help you find peace." It isn't a language you understand, but for some reason you can understand his words. And then suddenly that very man is standing beside you. He isn't in a white doctor's coat anymore however, but a tasteful brown suit with a red turtleneck beneath it. He stands with his hands in his front pockets. "Victims of the Holocaust, they are all Jews and this hospital was in Israel. Now it is merely a place in my memories." His voice is crisp and educated. He smiles slightly as he turns to look at you, "I am Professor X. I apologize for the unconventional visit." The slender young mutant is always nervous, nervous when waiting, nervous when walking outside. Nervous has become a state of being for Jonas, so glancing at the door five times in a minute while he waits is nothing new, nor is the impulse to stand up, and pace around the hotel room, checking windows, looking onto the street, to see if there are any big black cars with suits getting out.. And then everything vanishes. "What the.." the young mutant tenses, hesitant, as the world comes into focus, the language foreign and disturbing to him. He steps back, looking around wildly, his hair unruly, he wipes it back out of his eyes. "Who.." he starts, when you speak beside him, jerking and raising his hands as if to defend himself. He is tense, and nervous. "Unconventional. Yeah, you could say that. What is going on? What do you mean, In your memories?" he asks with a frown. Xavier smiles a bit at that, "I fear I can't go into deep explanation without you having an upset. Let me just say at this point, this is something that happened in the past." You can see the younger Professor Xavier working with the man on the bed and soon the man stops muttering. When Xavier removes his fingers the deranged man looks about more attentively. "Where am I?" Again, for some reason you can understand the words this time. "You are in the promised land, Israel. Welcome home my friend. Rest now, the nightmares won't bother you tonight." Xavier helps the sickly man lay back onto his bed and watches him until he falls asleep. The older Xavier soon reaches out to gently touch your shoulder and the two of you are suddenly elsewhere. A wooded area, expansive and beautiful. You can hear the birds chirp and sing and the breeze rustle the leaves. "I am many things, including a psychologist. I am also a friend of Simone's, as she is my friend. She asked me to speak to you." There is move to it, but Xavier is only revealing so much at this point. "We will not be moving from this spot until it is time for you to wake up from this 'dream'. Relax, no one can get you here as we are the only ones 'here'." Least Xavier isn't touching you again after that brief touch. He is standing a respectful distance away once more, hands clasped behind his lower back calmly. Jonas raises an eyebrow, clearly thinking that he may have an upset if you don't explain, but he doesn't press the issue, instead he takes the time to close his eyes, and breathe out for a moment, trying to focus. Inside, his emotions are in turmoil. Fear. Excitement. A touch of anger at being yanked out of his hotel room. But even before you take him away, he's starting to put the pieces together, and he opens his eyes, as you touch his shoulder. "So." he says, looking around at the new setting, and listening to you talk, and he frowns, "This is a 'dream' then. You must be some kind o' psychic of some sort?" he wonders, having heard of telepaths, but never seen one 'up close' as it were. You can feel his mind try to close in, and he tries not to think about how he made his living, images of stealing cars and pickpocketing, as well as a few even more risky heists, coming to mind due to his fear that you're looking in his mind. Well.. It's nice to meet you, Professor." he says a little stiffly, "I guess you know who I am." "Yes," Professor X admits. "A little and with some suspicions because I know have suspected Simone's past." He doesn't have a seat though there is a fallen tree that one may sit upon. Instead, he walks about easily, as if enjoying the freedom. "You are supplying me with information accidentally. Try not to worry about it, I'm not looking for it. Nor am I here to judge you Jonas. I am here because Simone said you needed help, that someone has taken away your freedom, and tormented you. That it may even be nearby, which concerns me very greatly. Removing someone's free will is wrong. Prison for doing a legal wrong is one thing, but Simone made sure that was not the assumption I would make. I suspect there is a much darker taint to your past." The man is just talking right now, he isn't asking questions, he is not demanding answers either. He does fall silent, to allow you to speak if you so wish, to share what you want. There is no sense of pressure from Xavier, he seems quite content to see where things go. The young mutant looks nervous and embarrassed, as you inform him that his clumsy attempts to not think about things are in fact having the other effect. "I ran a place. A house. A gang. I figured I could help people like me, and we did.. things to support ourselves. It's not like there's a lot of job opportunities for freaks and street rats. But I could help people, like Simone. We didn't make anyone.. help with the gang. Simone even got her GED. We focused on keeping the house afloat, and helping people who were looking for a way out of whatever situation they were in." he explains, broadly. "I was online, chatting with some friends. Some of the house was out. I guess they had been watching us, because they knew who we were. The power cut out, and they came in. They were dressed in black.. they hit me with a tazer, and I saw a couple of my guys fighting with them.. Eric.. they tazered him, but he wouldn't go down, so they shot him. And then they hit me again, and I woke up in a cell. They had tech, a lot of it. They had rigged up something on my hands and feet that drained out the energy I stored up." he pauses, and moves to sit. "Have you ever been a captive, Professor?" he wonders quietly. "Every day, they woke me. They had guards, and they tested me.. They never talked to me, but once in a while, they'd speak to each other. They were interested in my field. What it could stop. What it was. I learned a lot about my power while I was in. I learned, eventually, to hang onto a little energy, learned to beat the drain. I was patient, and I built it up, and when I broke out, I ran. I don't know where I was.. I found some woods, and I stayed there for a while. Eventually I made my way out, and I ended up in New York. The boroughs were the first towns I came to. I don't know what else you might want to know.. But keeping secrets is obviously not going to happen." he says softly. He's got a lot of rage inside, aimed at those who captured him. Shame at having to run, rather than searching for his friends.. "They still have them." he whispers softly. This is where Professor X does peer into your mind to get the visuals and feelings from you as you retell the tale. "Kinetics?" Plucked from your own mind and your verbal hint. The Professor then nods, "Not in the way you were captive, but I know what it feels like to lose your freedom." He tries to gain a rough location from your memory, faces of your captures, names you might have heard them use. Anything that may be of use that you may not think to share. "Feel sorry for them. Their fear and lack of understanding caused them to over compensate, and do something terrible. Hate is often a wasted emotion that creates nothing productive. It hurts no one but yourself sadly." the memories are.. confused. Jumbled. Even if he saw any landmarks the night be broke out, the rage and pain of his months of captivity occlude them. Names were carefully avoided even when speaking to each other. The guards were well armed, mostly with conventional weapons, and carried themselves with discipline. He was well cared for, wounds carefully tended when they managed to hurt him, but he still bears scars on his back and arms from the torments. "Yes, I'm kinetic. I store it up. I, apparently, need surface area and speed to actually effect something. The more force that is directed against me, the easier it is to absorb.. of course, I can be overwhelmed. Hit me with a fright train and the field cuts off and I pass out." he says, rattling off the knowledge he gained through pain and torment. "But you can probably see all that easier than I can explain it." he says softly.. "Hate got me here, Professor. It kept me alive in the woods. I'll find them, and I'll get my friends back. And I don't care if they were misguided, or just stupid, they're in for a world of hurt when I do find them." he says sharply, looking at the Professor. He's young, and there's a lot of heat in his emotions. "No offense, but I hope you don't expect me to just smile and forget months of torture, and the fact that they killed and kidnapped all my friends." Professor X sighs softly, "No, I don't expect that. But I do pray and hope that you find your true strength, which is not in hatred but in loyalty and love. That you go after these individuals not for revenge, but to save and protect your friends. The purpose behind your actions and how to obtain your goal matter greatly, and to take a wrong step can stain your soul beyond what anyone can do unto you. You have the power in your hands, you always have. No matter what they did to you, you had a /choice/ in how to respond. And you have a choice now. Simone is finding a family, love, acceptances and strength in her need to protect others. She is finding herself. Now it is your time Jonas. It is your turn to find your path. Will you find ways to help others, choosing better methods, or will you let the hate consume you. Your emotions cloud your vision so much, that it interferes with my ability to see within your past. As a result, your emotions can also cloud your judgment and cause you to put yourself in unnecessary risk and indirectly cause others pain and suffering." Professor X walks toward you, looking into your face intently. "Simone is taking a risk, as is Kyle in assisting you. They are risking the lives of numerous other people to help you as well. Will you purposely draw attention to yourself to draw out the enemy and risk them, or will you take this time to heal, investigate and do what is required and good? This is my challenge to you, and only you can find the answer to it." Jonas listens, but he's in turmoil. If he saw one of the men who ran tests on him, would he have the strength to keep from killing them? It's anyone's guess. But, for all his heat, he is patient, and cautious. He's not arrogant enough to think he can find these people alone, and he knows his weaknesses are well known to them. "I'm not going to do anything stupid, Professor. I'm not going to go out wandering the woods, searching for guarded facilities to crash, if that's what you're worried about. But I do have to figure out who attacked me, because my friends.. my family.. They're still out there, being poked and prodded by men who find it interesting to see how fast a blade has to be moving before my field will slow it down." he responds quietly. "I'll investigate, and I'll take my time. I'm not trying to endanger anyone." A nod at that. "You are only alone by choice Jonas, you can have friends and allies. Take this time to calm down, search your own memories for clues and insights that might have been missed. If you wish to delve further into your memories for clues, contact Simone and let her know you wish for my assistance. Try to remember if there were any symbols on equipment or paperwork, if there was any strange terminology used as well. I will attempt to take what facial imprints I was able to glen from your mind and search for them." Then Professor X says, "Are you ready to wake up young Jonas?" His words sound compassionate. He doesn't demand anymore promises from you, just the fact you seem willing to think about it is more than enough for him at this point. The young mutant mmmms, nodding. "Simone wants to go back to Seattle. Check our old hangouts for others who might have survived." he points out softly. "I don't know if they're watching us.. but if anyone else is out there.. We have to find out, don't we?" he wonders softly. "I don't know if there's a safe way to do it though.." he sighs, and shakes his head, conflicted. He does care, deeply, about the members of the house he was in charge of... He looks around, and shrugs, "I guess I'm ready to go. Thanks for meeting me." Professor X smiles gently, "It was an honor. You have once looked after Simone, and we will do what we can to look after you now Jonas. I believe something can be arranged to investigate yours and Simone's past, and documents can be obtained confidentially. Let me know if there is anything we can do for you in the meantime. Oh...I'll be sending an individual to your room with some groceries. They will already be paid for. It will be from," and he provides the name of the grocery store so you won't feel like it is a trick when they arrive. "Take care of yourself." And then suddenly you are there, staring up at the ceiling from the bed within the hotel room. ftb